For good or ill, a man can be prickly when pressed on the subject of his, ahem, endowment. Spare a thought, then, for Juan Pablo Di Pace, who has seen his manhood manhandled by the marketing department of the Royal Opera House. Cast in the crowd scenes for a 2001 production of Verdi's Rigoletto, Di Pace was surprised to discover some years later that his naked torso was used on posters advertising shows he......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 3rd March 1982: The Barbican Centre is opened by the Queen. After 15 years of construction, at a cost of £161 million, the centre would become the largest performing arts centre in Europe (as well as being voted the ugliest building in London). Tuesday – 4th March 1882: Britain’s first electric trams go into operation in Leytonstone, East London. Wednesday – 5th March 1856: The second Covent......

There's something of a Valentine's theme to the Arts of choice taking place in the capital this week. But Londonist knows for every young Juliet embracing the idea of timeless romantic love, there's a Bridget hugging her near-empty vodka bottle, crooning to Chaka Khan. So, in the name of balance, here's a varied, half 'rom', half 'com' round-up for you all. Shows for Swingin' Lovers: Photographer Gregg Stone, has been taking snaps of kissing......

Be there first: After all the brouhaha over the From Russia paintings, this is surely the show to see in its opening week. Stunning, inspirational works by the likes of Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse, Kandinsky, Tatlin and Malevich come to the Royal Academy from Saturday. This is jaw-dropping art you'd normally only get to see with a deep, heavy, carbon-footprint inducing flight to Russia, we're lucky enough to have it on our doorsteps until......

It's easy to laugh at mime - the performers can't say anything back. But in the case of the London International Mime Festival, they could well leap off the stage on bungee ropes and encase you in a massive block of clay then make you a key part of an adult puppet show. This isn't a two week lovefest for tall chaps in stripy tops and white make up trapped in invisible glass boxes:......

Well, it’s over for another year. Time to settle down, relax, and get ready for another batch of shopping in the January sales. On TV, Londonist likes: Carmen (BBC2, 13:45-16:25) This just might be the world’s most famous opera, and even if you’re not an opera fan, you’ll definitely recognise some of the songs. From the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, this production features an international cast, impressive sets and live animals. My......

Having closed its doors in 2004, and playing host to squatters in recent months, there's finally some good news to report about the Commonwealth Institute in west London. The disused building is to be the welcome recipient of £20 million development plan, with hopes to turn it into an art gallery (yay!), museum (double-yay!) or "centre for a corporate foundation" (erm, possibly yay - we're not sure what that means). This should hopefully mean......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 3rd December ????: Nothing of any interest has ever happened in London on this date. Sorry. Tuesday – 4th December 1882: The Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand are opened by Queen Victoria. Wednesday – 5th December 1905: Part of the roof of Charing Cross station collapses, killing six people. Thursday – 6th December 1983: Britian’s first heart and lung transplant operation takes place at Harefield......

It's definitely time to start scrimping on things so you've plenty of dosh for those Christmas outings and present buying blitzes. London on the Cheap returns after a hiatus (we were temporarily flush, we made the most of it...) to help you get the most of the city on the scrag ends in your pocket. Monday: Get in the right frame of mind for Christmas shopping. Fortnum and Mason has just emerged from its......

If you've been past the Bow Street entrance to the Royal Opera House lately you'll have seen Royal Ballet principal dancer Edward Watson smouldering gingerly in a full face poster shot, stating: Meet Ed. Fact: When he's dancing, pound for pound, he's stronger than a rhino. Superheroes really do wear tights. You see what the Opera House is doing? It's sexing up. In your face! To underpin its efforts at drawing in new audiences......

We don't talk about opera enough on Londonist so here's a double-whammy of high notes and hollering... For the full Royal Opera House effect without going to the Royal Opera House, the BP Summer Screen brings Tosca to the masses tonight. Puccini's tale of love, murder, deception, jealousy and all the other standard opera elements is being broadcast live from the Royal Opera House on big screens in Canada Square (Canary Wharf), Victoria Park......

The ICA are teaming up with the Royal Opera House to transform Trafalgar Square from a pigeon inhabited tourist trap into something a little classier next month: Inspired by Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, FLOCK is a new interactive installation specially commissioned by the ICA (with the support of ROH2 at the Royal Opera House) taking place on Trafalgar Square. FLOCK is a free event, creating a “virtual Swan Lake” where members of the public will......

Who would have thought it, but hey look! The London International Mime Festival is back - for the 29th time. Mime is perhaps the wrong word for what looks like a very experimental festival - there is a distinct lack of white painted faces, gloves and gurning faces pretending to be trapped behind invisible glass doors. It seems to be more about theatre without words which means anything from puppets to trapezes to naked......

Last week we went out to watch a man from Beirut with colourful trousers and big hair, sing songs about fat girls, gay affairs, and lollipops. Tonight, we think you should do the same. Mika was born in the middle of a warzone in 1983 (yes, we realise that makes him disgustingly young), moved to Paris and spent most of his youth in London. What you need to know is that he's Universal Records......

It's a kid-friendly crawl this weekend, by which we mean there's lots of stuff to see and do that would please children and the perpetually nostalgic. Get your scarf, woolly hat and mittens and go out to play. Until 3 December Toys@Oxo 2006 is the annual show from the British Toymakers Guild and everything on display is also for sale. The automata, dolls, teddy bears, puzzles and games, glove puppets, hobby horses, wooden toys......

Budging The only fringe theatre venue in Leicester Square is to close in September. The tiny 150 seat Sound Theatre has sat shoulder to shoulder with the biggest of West End dross-peddling venues (Mama Mia is still playing at the Prince of Wales...) in the same block as the Swiss Centre since June last year, but while Sound's restaurant, bar and nightclub willmove to new Leicester Square premises, the theatre will not be joining......

"Stuffy" is a word often attributed to opera, due to the common misconception that opera houses are expensive, hot and airless halls for rich, hot and humourless people. Open air opera is far more appealing on a warm summer's night, especially if attending costs nothing - think of the gardens at Glyndebourne, the gentle slopes of grass beside Kenwood ... and the space between office blocks in Canary Wharf, the turf in Victoria Park,......

Here's one of those things that we never thought we'd see: a virtual reality Royal Opera House. Ok, so we haven't actually seen it yet, but we've read about it and it sounds cool: Lighting and design managers at the London-based opera house have spent two years creating a model of the main auditorium and are now using it to plan lighting and set changes. The virtual reality system, which uses graphics processors from......

The Theatre Museum will not be closed - yet. The ventilator has not been switched off quite yet, though there is a hand hovering near the plug. Usually ignored by tourists for the flashier and better laid out museums of South Kensington, this quiet subsidiary of the Victoria and Albert museum in Covent Garden has been in the limelight of late. When two applications to the Heritage Lottery Fund were rejected, its future was......

A few weeks ago we encouraged you to book tickets to see Frida Kahlo’s exhibition at the Tate Modern . Londonist hasn’t had an opportunity to wander down the South Bank yet, which this weekend we blame solely on the horrendously hot and suffocating weather, but being the good Samaritans we are at Londonist, we are compiling the thoughts of art critics from around the UK. Rachel Campbell-Johnston at The Times remarked that there......

It is finally summer, although Londonist knows this only because of the calendar date and not the weather. Summer means gleaming white bodies attempting to tan in Hyde Park, drinking large glasses of Pimm's, and above all it means seeing opera and ballet for free in some of London's most beloved squares. Yes, that is right, it is time once again for the Royal Opera House's BP Summer Big Screens season. For three nights......

Wednesday marked the third performance of "1984" at the Royal Opera House. "1984" is American composer Lorin Maazel's first attempt at opera and after a failed production attempt at another opera house, he and his production company (Big Brother Productions) brought it to Covent Garden agreeing to cover some of the cost of production which Londonist is sure didn't hurt his chances of having it on this year's bill. Londonist read many a scathing......

We might be a little late coming to this one, but if we are it's because we haven't really seen it advertised anywhere. And if we haven't seen it then that might mean you haven't seen it, and that means you might be missing out...shall we just get on and tell you what it is now? Travelex (you know: the world's largest non-bank provider of commercial foreign exchange services) have launched a deal in......

In Londonist’s ever-growing effort to bring more art and culture to our readers (because we know how hard it is to really know about all of the art in London) – this week we bring you the first of many instalments of our “Pick of the Week” art and culture series. We do not consider ourselves art experts, nor do we hold season tickets to the Royal Opera House, but we do like to get......